Condominium and single-family home sales activity in Cambridge has been flat this year compared to 2001, but prices are up. The first-floor unit in this three-family home on Columbia Street in East Cambridge sold during the summer for $325,000.

Ask Fred Meyer how home sales are going in Cambridge and the longtime Realtor will say that he’s definitely seeing a slowdown.

Part of the drop-off has to do with the season. Home sales typically lag during the months of November and December when most people are busy preparing for the holidays.

But Meyer said that it also has to do with the “run-up in prices” and the fact that with the long period of low interest rates, many people who were ready to purchase a home already did so.

“To some extent the demand has been met,” said Meyer, owner of University Real Estate in Cambridge. “There’s been a small correction in two cities, Cambridge and Somerville, where supply and demand are very favorable to homeownership.”

A fair measure of what’s happening in the real estate market, according to Meyer, who is also an appraiser, can be found in the recent sale of two very similar condos in the same building. One of the units sold for $397,500 in September. The other condo, which came on the market around the same time and was priced at $449,000 because it had a view of the Cambridge skyline and a newer heating system, wouldn’t sell. The price was lowered to $415,000, and then lowered again when it finally went under agreement for $397,500 about two weeks ago.

“That, in effect, was a 10 percent price drop,” said Meyer.

Yet the residential real estate market in Cambridge and the surrounding communities, particularly Somerville, are by no means suffering. Those communities have benefited from healthy buyer demand, with people flocking to the diverse urban communities that have much to offer besides premium location.

In fact, condominium and single-family home sales volume in Cambridge through Dec. 1 of this year remained virtually unchanged compared to the same period in 2001. Some 139 single-family homes were sold through the end of November this year and 137 homes sold during the same period last year, according to statistics provided by the Multiple Listing Service-Property Information Network in Shrewsbury. But the median price of single-family homes sold this year was $730,000, 32.7 percent higher than the $550,000 median price posted during the same months in 2001.

Meanwhile, there were 523 condos sold in Cambridge through Dec. 1 of this year, compared to 524 a year ago, according to MLS-PIN. The median price of condos sold this year is $359,000, a 5.4 percent increase compared to the median a year ago.

While condo and single-family sales in Cambridge have been flat, condo sales have escalated by double digits in Somerville, Watertown, Arlington and Belmont. Three of those communities have also seen their condo median sales prices rise by double digits.

Peter Boyajian, a Realtor who is in business with his mom, Sonia V. Boyajian, said there was a noticeable softening in the real estate market for about six to 10 weeks, but then within the last four weeks there has been a slight surge in activity in Cambridge, Somerville, Watertown, Arlington and Belmont.

During the summer, Boyajian sold a first-floor two-bedroom condo in East Cambridge for $325,000. If the same condo were on the market today, it would probably fetch about $20,000 less, predicted Boyajian.

“I think we’re definitely seeing a slowdown, but it’s not devastating by any means,” said Boyajian.

Market Surprise

Somerville, particularly near Davis Square, has become a trendy place in which to live. In Somerville, the number of condo sales through the end of November of this year increased by double digits, according to MLS-PIN.

Condo sales shot up 24 percent in Somerville with 227 sales through the end of November of this year compared to 183 during the same period one year ago. The median price for the condos sold during those months was $316,500, 10.3 percent higher than the $287,000 median price of a year ago. Meanwhile, sales of single-family homes rose more modestly. Single-family homes sales increased 8 percent to 93 units compared to 86 a year ago. The median price for single-family homes sold through November was $344,000, a 7.5 percent increase from the median of $319,900 recorded a year ago.

Meyer said the strong sales in Somerville shouldn’t be a big surprise because the city is convenient for people who work in Boston, particularly because of the extension of public transportation into Davis Square.

“Brokers are surprised that Cambridge and Somerville just keep going [strongly],” said Boyajian. “We’re in the business and we still get surprised.”

Watertown has also become quite popular, especially for condo seekers.

When Sonia V. Boyajian started her real estate business more than two decades ago, all of the buyers walking into her office wanted to see single-family and two-family homes in Belmont. Today, more and more are seeking out Watertown, she said, because of its restaurants and the redevelopment of and improvements to the Arsenal Mall.

“It’s such a vibrant town,” said Boyajian, a lifelong Cambridge resident and president of Real Estate 109 in Belmont.

However, even though Watertown experienced an impressive increase in condo and single-family home sales volume this year, prices have only increased by about 3 percent from the prior years. Condo sales activity from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1 in Watertown surged 54 percent from the same period last year. Some 159 condos were sold during those months compared to the 103 unit sales during the same period in 2001.

Single-family home sales experienced a more moderate increase – 10.8 percent – from 74 to 82 sales through Dec. 1, 2002. The median price for single-family homes sold this year in Watertown is $373,000, 3.6 percent higher than the $360,000 median price of 2001. The median condo price this year is $315,000, 3 percent more than a year ago.

Realtors interviewed by Banker & Tradesman last week said they expect the real estate markets in Cambridge and the surrounding communities to continue chugging along at a healthy rate. But some warned that sellers shouldn’t expect the high appreciation rates of the past.

“I think they [Cambridge-area real estate markets] will continue to do well,” said Meyer. “But sellers have to realize in setting their prices, if they think they can get the same prices as they did when things were at the height of the spring market, that’s wrong. But if they’re more realistic in setting prices … they’ll do well.”